ISLAMABAD: The upcoming visit of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Muhammed bin Salman to Pakistan has been postponed.

According to media reports, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Muhammad bin Salman was expected to visit Pakistan later this month.

He was expected to attend a gathering of leaders from the Group of 20 (G20) nations on the resort island of Bali next week. Indonesia is hosting the summit starting on November 15 including US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was expected to stopover in Pakistan while returning for the visit. However, the Saudi leader has deferred his plans to attend the summit due to which the visit to Pakistan has also been postponed. He will be visiting Pakistan at a later date by mutual discussion.

During the visit, Pakistan was expected to receive a $4.2 billion bailout package, and numerous Pakistan-Saudi petroleum agreements were finalized for signing.

Saudi Arabia will also assist in the establishment of a modern oil refinery in Gwadar at a cost of $10 billion, which will be run by Chinese companies after completion of the project.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the Conference of Parties (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

The prime minister expressed confidence that the Saudi leader’s upcoming visit to Pakistan would promote bilateral cooperation.

During the meeting, the two leaders also discussed regional and global issues of mutual interest. They expressed determination to further strengthen the multilateral partnership between the two countries.

Referring to their recent meeting in Riyadh, the prime minister and the crown prince expressed satisfaction at the growing high-level ties.

Shehbaz Sharif emphasized the importance of increasing trade, investment, development and people-to-people ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The two leaders expressed their determination to further strengthen the multilateral partnership between the two countries.

Appreciating Saudi Arabia’s assistance to Pakistan’s flood-affected people, the prime minister said that Pakistan was one of the countries most affected by the effects of climate change.

He also appreciated the efforts of the Saudi crown prince on the functioning of the integrated environmental initiative and assured the Saudi leadership of full support from Pakistan.

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